Polychlorinated biphenyls as a cause of ecological problems and development of remediation technologies based on biological agents

Abstract

The review presents an analysis of currently pressing problems associated with environmental pollution by polychlorinated biphenyls – compounds included in the list of Persistent Organic Pollutants under the international con-vention. The structural features of the polychlorinated biphenyl molecule and their interaction with the environment and living organisms are shown. The main attention is paid to aerobic bacteria, one of the main components of soil microbi-ocenosis. It was shown that long-term exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls led to the preferential selection in contami-nated microbiocenosis of bacteria capable of using polychlorinated biphenyls as a source of carbon and energy. The most active strains served as the basis for biotechnological preparations aimed at removing PCBs from the environment.